The Gathering

The kids in the classroom could feel it coming. Today started out like it normally did. The children acted like nothing was wrong. They ate breakfast, talked to their families, and went to school. Their parents didn’t suspect a thing. Why would they? It wasn’t like the children were acting out of the ordinary. As far as the parents knew, nothing was amiss. Today was supposed to be an ordinary day.

Things changed when they made it to school. Not a single child made a sound. They walked in single file. Some of them kept their heads down. Miike looked at everyone around him. He already knew what was coming next. She started to remember it too.

“I’m scared,” she whispered. He held her hand, but they wouldn’t look at each other.

“What do we do?” she asked. Miike didn’t answer. He knew the answer but couldn’t say it. Or rather, he didn’t want to. Or could it be that he didn’t know how to?

The students walked into their classrooms. They all took their seats. The teachers looked disturbed, but they tried to act normal. That act became harder to pull off each day. In the back of their minds, the teachers wondered when it would be the day that everything snapped and crumbled. They tried to keep everything down but today was different.

The morning started with everyone shuffling into class. The children didn’t say a word. They sat down and stared with their empty eyes at the teachers in the front of the classroom. School began at eight.

At ten o’clock, things started to change.

Miike stood up from his desk. The class turned and looked at him in unison. The teacher raised her eyebrow.

“Miike-kun, what are you doing?” she asked. The child didn’t answer. There looked like something was off with his eyes. She turned her head and saw empty pools staring back. He stood there like a statue.

“What are you doing?” she whispered. She didn’t get a chance to wait for any answer. Whatever had their claws in Miike started to spread out to her. She closed her mouth and slowly rose to her feet. She wasn’t the only one who stood up, either.

One by one, the children all rose to their feet. None of them said a word. Their eyes looked so empty and none of them would respond to anything. The teachers didn’t know what to do. Honestly, they found themselves creeped out. They gathered in the hall and talked about what they should do.

That’s when the lights started to flicker overhead.